Running a little behind

I seem to be so far behind on blogging little bits and pieces lately.

I like to make sure that I blog everything as it's a great record of everything I've made over the years, and it shows a bit of an evolution of my sewing skills as they've improved.

This little zip pouch was a special request from my eldest nephew for his birthday. It has a belt loop that runs along at the back, so it can be removed if necessary.

Luckily, I had one lonely satchel clasp left in the stash!

Now, when I modelled this on Frances for the photoshoot, I assumed that it was to be worn around the waist..... but when I gave it to him, he put it over his shoulder, because apparently, that's the way the teens wear them these days?

I'm sooooo old!

Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

Is it a bat?

No, it's a bird alright...

Thank goodness Mr X came to the rescue by climbing up on a chair to catch little Mr Birdie and take him back outside to fly away.

I quite like visitors in my creative space, but I'd rather that they not be of the feathered pooping variety!

*Made with Love

It's school holiday time at the moment, so two of my nephews have had a few days in the country with Nan (my mum).

She's been texting photos of all of their baking exploits..... they've made homemade cakes and homemade bread.

They came home yesterday and this is the little surprise that I found waiting for me on my kitchen bench.

*I'm quite sure that my mum would have nudginly suggested he write the 'made with love' on the label, but it's pretty darn cute anyway!

Christmas Again

My nephew likes to hoard stuff.

It's usually really junky stuff like rubber bands, blu-tack, soft drink can ring pulls, and the like..... so every couple of weeks, my sister has to go through his room to find all the hiding spots and throw out the rubbish that he's managed to collect.

But this week, she found these two packets.

He'd bought them with his pocket money from the school christmas stall as a pressie for me, but he'd hidden them so well in his room that he'd forgotten all about them!

 Lucky me - it's Christmas all over again.

Revealing - part four

I almost forgot the final pressie to be revealed!

This one was a joint effort between myself and Mr X. My sister has a birthday directly after Christmas, so I wanted to make her something useful using her son's creative talents.

He printed out an alphabet of some weird font and traced Mum and her name onto the fabric using fabric markers, and drew the heart around it (which of course I thought was really cute). I drew the flowers (surprise surprise).

Unfortunately there was a little bit of fabric crinkle when I heat-set the fabric markers, but I'm hoping that it just adds to the handmade charm.

My sister really liked it which was all that mattered!

* There is actually a little loop at the top to hang it near the stove, but it's been cut off in the photo - whoops.

Happy Birthday Mr X

It was my eldest nephews birthday yesterday - 12 years have flown by so quickly, and he's so grown up and so tall these days!

We had a very yummy barbecue to celebrate lastnight. His mum made this yummy chocolate cake with cake pops on top. It was quite perfect because instead of the usual mad scramble to cut the cake, all the kiddies were given a cake pop and off they went... leaving an entire cake for the adults to eat. Much more civlised.

Mr X was lucky enough to receive an iPod Touch for his birthday, which made it very easy indeed for me to come up with a handmade pressie for him.

Oh, and as an added bonus, the headphone pocket on the back is perfect to pop in a little i-Tunes voucher. Fancy that!

What day is it?

I don't seem to know what's going on around here. Somewhere between the beginning of Blogtoberfest and Daylight Savings, my brain has lost a day.

I have quite a few appointments this week, so here's hoping that I don't miss any!

It was such a glorious day yesterday, so in the afternoon I picked up Moo Moo from home, and took him for a drive to pick up his big brother from school, so that I could take them both to the skate park (my ulterior motive being that I could sit and draw in the sunshine and fresh air).

He was deliriously tired and yapped all the way to school and kept calling me Nan instead of Cam (he just spent last weekend at his Nan's house). Then poor little Moo Moo fell asleep in the car one minute before the school bell rang....... which meant that most of his scooter riding time at the skate park was spent snoring instead.

When I finally woke him up to go and play, I'd half finished my drawing. Luckily for me, Moo Moo (who is three) could correctly identify (even in his half asleep state) that I was trying to draw a turtle.... and next up, he wants a Lion???

Nice weather for ducks

I headed off to the country today with Mr X and Moo Moo in tow, to celebrate my mums birthday

Gypsy the mini shetland

It was cold and windy and wet....

...but inside, the wood burning stove was nice and warm, and there was a yummy roast lunch (and birthday cake) for everyone.

Before and After

Luckily, mum hadn't experienced the flooding rains that my sister and BIL had yesterday.

 Before and After

They live right across the road from the local park where the creek runs through the middle of town...

Before and After

...which is currently a swimming pool (and these photos were taken before the peak of the water)!

Here's the actual pool!

My Creative Space

Beautiful Hand Dyed wool felt from Me and Ewe

There hasn't been much happening in my creative space this week, apart from a bit of knitting on the couch..... although I did make a start on a super secret birthday pressie (which of course I can't reveal just yet).
 I'm currently searching for the perfect piece of something to finish it off. It's one of those things where I'll know it's perfect just as soon as I see it.

Instead, I'm going to reveal snippets of another super secret pressie. Mr X had a list of around twenty things to choose from for this weeks homework assignment. Luckily for us, there was a topic that involved a bit of creativity, so we decided to choose Mother's Day. He was supposed to create a very intricate Mother's Day card, similar to something that you would find in a shop.

Photo has been deliberately (and quite pathetically) blurred so my sister can't work out what it is!

He found everything he needed (and more of course) in my craft stash, and so we decided that there should be a pressie too. He's getting quite good at sewing now - but not so good with the rotary cutting as he's left handed and I'm right handed, so it just doesn't translate!

I'm packing up my crafty basket thisafternoon, so I can head off to the Northern Craft Bonanza tonight, although it's going to be an early finish for me, so I can get lots of sleep and energy reserves ready for the Stitches and Craft Show tomorrow....

In the meantime, I'll be heading over to visit Kirsty's magical linky list to see who else is playing today.

Happy Easter

The Easter Egg hunt

Playing at the park

The final trip to Widow Twankeys to buy an ice-cream

.....til next time

Easter Bunny Eve

We started off Easter Bunny Eve at the Daylesford Makers Market thismorning. It's always lovely to combine a market with a weekend away in the country.

We had lots of bloggy visitors during the day including Tracey who came all the way from Adelaide, and Jess who came all the way from Sydney! It was also lovely to finally meet Jemma and Marilyn, and to see Bec, Liz, Margaret, Angela, Beck, Serena, Anna, Rachelle, Celeste..... Oh gee I hope I haven't missed anyone!

Sel and I headed back to Clunes after we packed up, and met the boys back at Widow Twankeys where it was chocolate milkshake o'clock.

Little did we know that they'd already been treated to a chocolate milkshake earlier in the day, so we headed to the skate park with the scooters and bikes to burn off some of that extra energy.

Now it's time for beddy byes while they wait for a certain Eater Bunny to deliver some chocolate eggs in the morning - apparently the Easter Bunny prefers Kirks Creamy Soda with his carrots.

A breath of fresh air

I headed down to the country yesterday to check on the progress of my mums reno project.

Mr X and Moo Moo decided to come too, along with one of Mr X's friends.... so there was lots of chattering, and laughing, and talking about silly boy things like farts, all the way there and back!

The boys had a great time checking out the sheep, the cantankerous goats (Crackle and Pop), and the chooks of course.

They were also quite fascinated by the bloke up the tree cutting down the dead branches with a chainsaw.

 Before photo - taken with a camera

After photo - taken with a mobile phone

The re-painting of the entire interior of the house is nearly finished - the kitchen looks so much lighter and brighter than before - even on a such a dreary and rainy afternoon. Now the beautiful old wood burning stove and mantelpiece is a feature against the white walls.

The boys kept me entertained all the way home. We cranked up the dance music (Ministry of Sound) and sang along. Even Moo Moo joined in bopping along in his car seat..... hilarious!

Ungladwrapped

The puddle finally dried out.....

.... and the finished creation has been taken home.

I'm hoping it'll be filled with easter eggs next time I go and visit!

Jumping in Puddles

Yep, that's a big puddle of glue and fabric and yarn on my kitchen table.....sitting on a garbage bag.

My eldest nephew stays over on Tuesday nights.
We usually spend about an hour getting all of his weekly homework out of the way in one big session, but this week there's no homework as school finishes for Easter holidays on Friday (didn't they just start back)?

So to pass the normal homework time, we decided to make an Easter Basket.

I didn't have an art smock and he only had his school uniform, so we fashioned a smock out of a plastic shopping bag (just cut two armholes and a neckhole if you're wondering.... but I'm sure you're probably not).

He had a great time swirling all the bits around in the glue, and then plopping them on top, and all the way around the bowl*.

Let's just hope that that the puddle actually dries out by the time Easter rolls around!

* I used a pyrex bowl covered in gladwrap - I've never tried this before so I'm really hoping that it works.

SuperPops - why the judges have been officially disqualified

The Head Judge (my nephew Mr X) is hereby tendering his forced resignation from the judging panel for The SuperPops Challenge, due to the fact that he has secretly submitted an entry.

Apparently I have blue wirey hair and very scary looking teeth (maybe I should be visiting the haridresser and the dentist sometime soon)!

Thankyou Mr X - your judging services are no longer required.

The ruling is final
Your show has been cancelled
You have been evicted
You're fired
You're the last team to arrive
You are not the next...... insert blurb here - top model, australian idol, masterchef, biggest loser

Can you tell that I'm a little bit addicted to reality tv?